Anansi | The Crazy Story of Ghana's Spider-Man Trickster (Exploring African Folklore)
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- čas přidán 14. 02. 2022
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Today we take a look at some West African Folklore with the Ghanaian legend of the trickster spirit Anansi the spider.
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#Anansi #AfricanFolklore #Mythology - Zábava
Feel free to leave suggestions below for other African deities or legends you'd like to see covered.
Perhaps the "Tokoloshi" next?
Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦
We in here💪🏽
Great Exploring 👍🏻
Great exploring you did do a few eyptian videos so technically you did do an African pantheon on your channel 🙂
Make more videos about whatever you want please & thank you for your hard work.
I want to see Gajasura an Elephant God (Exploring Indian Folklore)🐘
African mythologies are criminally underrated. I would love to learn more about them.
Same here!
Well then I guess you have come to the right place
Underrrated probably isn’t the right term tbh🤔. More like centuries of colonialism.
Idk which specific mythology it was from, but when I was in grade school I read about one where they said God fell asleep while drinking coconut milk, woke up and drank some more after it had spoiled and fermented.
He got drunk by mistake, and accidentally created birth defects and mental illnesses when he went back to making more people while drunk.
Honestly I think it might have been Ghana mythology. We had a speaker come to school and teach us about Anansi, and taught us a song(I can still remember partially over 20 years later lol). After that meeting they told us where to find similar stories in our library, where I found a comic book that illustrated the one I mentioned above.
For someone whose using mythology and folk tales for inspiration, I would LOVE to see African lore more often.🥺
As a Ghanaian, I'm extremely excited to have you showcase this legendary figure to the world 🌎. His stories are full of didactions that can help shape the world better!
I agree
As a Ghanaian American, just wanted to say thank you for covering Kwaku Anansi! My parents would tell my younger sister and I stories about him all the time when we were younger! Once again, thank you for telling his tales!
I remember first hearing of Anansi in the cartoon Static Shock. Before Miles Morales's SpiderMan, and before Cyborg in Teen Titans he was the only young African American super heros kids could watch.
I’m glad they have up to steam on hbo max. Still holds up really well after 15+ years.
Wasn’t the only, but definitely the most popular it seems
Defender of the Earth anyone? Lothar & his son.
Fuck black panther, I want a Static Shock movie.
Same
My question is for the narrator. Did you like covering African folklore? I'm so happy you did this I am a Jamaican that requested Anansi story with many others.
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR COMMENTS AND ACTUALLY TOOK THE TIME TO COVER THE STORY. I APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH. Do you find African folklore interesting?
im into all types of myth and folklore and the biggest hurdle with Africa is no written language. Im Native American and its difficult also for the same reason
@@efraim3364 yeah that is a total shame. imagine all the cool lore we could enjoy if they had only figured out writing.
@@efraim3364 believe it or not it’s the same for me , the Druidic traditions of Wales were orally taught so when the Romans killed the last of them on Anglesey island off the coast of Wales nothing much of the culture survived after that.
There is another channel that does black mythology and fiction. Please follow them!
@@IEatMenForBreakfastFukFace What's the name of that channel?
Anansi also appears in American Gods by Neil Gaiman, there is a TV-series as well which I could recommend.
Yes. Sadly Mr. Nansi and his storyline ended way too soon. As did the show
@@GredelsRage It might get a Starz film adaption. I also like Anasi's character in American Gods but I felt Orlando Jones was trying too hard to take the spotlight from Ricki Whittle's character who honestly felt like a side character than a protagonist until the last season.
Anasi will be getting a spin off but Orlando Jones is the reason why that show never reached its proper narrative destination because he tried to change too much of the source material.
But damn was that a cool character.
@@bleachedout805 Actually, no and there is a video on what REALLY happened that got Orlando Jones removed. It involved racism of one of the new writers.
@@antoinehicks2681 either way the loss of Mr. Jones hurt the show, i felt. If you listen to the stories above, then his attempt to upstage really only play into the Anansi mythos as he's a tiny creature that strives for importance and his storytelling was fabulous. Again just my opinion. I'll not comment on any racist underpinnings as i don't follow Hollywood that closely.
and don´t forget Anansi Boys a sort of sequel from Gaiman, i loved that story too.
he reminds me a lot of Loki would have hated to have them both show up at a party . it was great learning about other areas and the Folklore and legends of other places that have in the past had such rich history we forget Africa has a long rich history we should explore it more.=)
So Anansi, Loki, and coyote walk into a party...
You and this channel should really look into the Orisha. One of the most fascinating pantheons imo
@@pillowprincess3673 I already know about the orisha, I use to primarily focus on the many gods and myths of east and west Africa back when I did gallery art since majority of my gallery work was mythology based.
Here here! Europe isn’t the only one with fun mythology
@@holyknight70 let me get the popcorn ready. 🤣🍿
As a Ghanaian. Ananse stories is what Ghanaian childhood is all about. Such a great character with interesting life teaching lessons.
I am Jamaican and the Anansi or Bra Hawanasi the same guy stories is known on that Island.
On Sundays I think, we should to watch by the fire place ❤ where the did anansi stories
I'd love hearing more of Anansi's exploits.
LOL like its juicy gossip - i love it
Kwaku Anansi 100% Ghana Akan folklore 🇬🇭 🇬🇭
Not gonna lie. Africa has some of the best tricksters.
Anansi and Set are quite cool.
Uh... Seth murdered his brother and tried to rape his nephew (Horus). Not so cool.
@@wmdkitty This is the first I heard about the last part. Definitely heard about Osiris. And when Isis got Osiris pretty much back together, here came Set saying "Hah, you thought!" Set isn't what I consider as a trickster. He's more of a god of chaos.
@@wmdkitty most Egyptian gods are pretty messed up, looooots of incest, I’m like 70% sure Geb raped his mother
@@jayg9283 stop it. There's no such thing as Egyptian Gods
I’m a 2nd generation Jamaican American and so many Jamaicans I heard growing up would use that word Anansi.
From Akan in Ghana
In the Caribbean we have alot of anansi stories.
It means “Spider” in Akan language
Anasi, Sun Wugong and Loki feel like the same soul living many lifetimes.
His stories made our childhood complete in Ghana ❤❤
And Jamaica too, we were taught about him school
African mythology and folklore would be wonderful additions to the channel. I vaguely remember years ago reading about an African creation myth. It was largely similar to Prometheus/Epimetheus creating humanity out of clay, but there's one distinct addition I remember. The creator at one point became very drunk before continuing his work, and that his intoxication was the reason why some are born disabled or deformed.
Obatala,that's youruba mythology....the orisha's
I listened to this in class from Spotify and showed my Ghanaian friend (moved to Ireland about a year or two ago) and he started smiling and saying he remembered the stories, it both surprised me and made me happy
Thought I’d share
I love hearing mythology and folklore outside of the Greeks and Romans. I welcome all of it! Thank you for this video.
As a Jamaican, I have heard anansi stories as a child. Children books were written about anansi stories
Briar Rabbit of the Gullah African American people is also a folklore hero who is a symbol of overcoming white oppression.
Gullah folklore would be a cool video! I only know a little of the culture and would love to learn more!
Perhaps the "Tokoloshi" next?
Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦
We in here💪🏽
Definitely the Tokoloshe. I saw a witch doctor ceremony to remove a tokoloshe from farm workers houses when I was young.
😐
Yes! South African culture is so interesting!
I first heard of Anansi from watching the show American Gods. They portray him as a trickster god who also tells stories, including ones of slavery. It's a really good show. I enjoyed his character on the show very much and I absolutely loved these stories and would love it if you narrated more Anansi stories.
Fun fact Anansi is a character in the Marvel universe, responsible for giving the various incarnations of Spider-Man their powers.
I first heard of this guy from Disney’s Gargoyles where he was a giant spider trickster god. He was the villain in the story.
I was thinking of that too.
Antagonist, yes, but not exactly a "villain". Nothing on that show is ever quite straightforward.
My heart💔💔💔💔💔💔
A child of Oberon 😂
Loved how American Gods portrayed Anansi
Anansi is definitely one of my favorite African stories.
I know this from Static Shock
Not going to lie it's kinda about time you did some African gods that aren't the Egyptians
Egypt is in Africa
@@antoinehicks2681 you know what Jordan means. There's an European-American obsession with Egyptian gods that is westernized because of the final years of rule (and consequential fall of Egyptian dynasties)
@@antoinehicks2681 No shit, he just means Egypt is super overrated and mostly what people think about when it comes to interesting African areas and cultures
As a Ghanaian, it's amazing to hear you talk about Kweku Ananse, there are so many tales about him, I can't wait for you to cover more of them.
very interesting video, we learned about him in school in jamaica.
I so enjoyed Neil Gaiman's novel, Anansi boys.
Your video makes me want to read it again.
Like many, I discovered this character in American's Gods. The series.
Then I did some research and I found that in many mythologies, there is this kind of protagonist, cunning, sometimes selfish but finally endearing, often intelligent and therefore indispensable.
He is at the same time madness, humor and a certain wisdom.
We find Loki, Hermes, Anansi, Coyote, the Monkey King and others that I don't know yet.
I like these dubious, funny and tricky heroes. Long live their stories.
-Loki: Viking mythology
-Hermes: Greek mythology
-Anansi: Ghanaian mythology
-Coyote: Navajo mythology ( very good book, a Coyote blues, Christopher Moore)
-The Monkey King: Chinese mythology
...... and certainly many others
Kisses from France 🇫🇷
I love Anansi. Neil Gaiman's novel Anansi Boys is fab
The OG Black Spider-Man
As a Ghanaian, I'm very happy to see you've covered this
as a jamaican, i was very happy and surprised to have stumbled on this video. a great watch, and yes, please!!! give us more Anansi stories and African/Caribbean folklore/mythology. I'm even open to sharing what i know lol
I remember being a little kid back in the early 90s and being told the story of Anansi by Len Cabral, who is an award winning Master story teller. I took it for granted because I was a dumb little kid, but it's nice thinking back on it now.
This is a good reminder of my childhood days …I’m Ghanaian and thanks 🙏🏽😋😋😋
I always had a soft spot for Anansi when I read about him as a kid
He’s probably why I love spiders so much
Very good stories, hope to hear more. As well as any stories about any of the other african gods.
Finally Anansi The Spider Trickster of West Africa is here!! Thank You for a good reminding set back, I always wanna go to Africa🌍🕷My stepfather has Arachnophobia
I always heard about anasi being from Nigeria. Never knew he was considered folklore
Is Ghanaian
He’s actually from “Akan” folklore (Or Ghanaian)
@@adercader1 And its a tribe in Ghana
I'm a Jamaican, I grew up listening to all the anansi stories and I always love them growing up
I still do ❤
The original Spider-Man or spider boy
Yes the spiderman character is based / inspired by Anansi. Thus - now in the multiverse canon of Marvel - the first spiderman is actually named Kwaku Anansi. 😊❤
I remember reading the stories of Anansi when I was a child, and he seemed to be more of a trickster who was pretty lazy when he wasn't busy conning others in the versions I read; it was only once in a while that he actually did something good.
I’m Jamaican and I grew up to these stories.
My favourite is the magic pot.
The story is a cautionary tale about greed. But I always liked it cuz of the magical pot that can refill itself with chickens and rice and peas , salt fish, yam, mackerel and banana and all different types of Jamaican foods.
🤤. Guess that means I’m greedy and didn’t learn a thing from the story.
Its a shame this Ghanaian folklore hasnt been fully been explored here in Ghana. Thank you for doing this video. Love from Ghana🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭
I remember hearing someone ask why there hasn’t been a Disney princess movie based on African mythologies yet and the other person said because African mythology and folklore is scary af and horrific at times
@Alias Fakename will I gotta give ya that one
I think I read somewhere Disney is working on one but I’m not 100% sure.
Who cares like Disney should be given more cultural power! Screw that they need to stay away from African Myths and Folklore.
I love Trickster Deities, they are literally my spirit animals.
More African tales, please 🥺
I grew up reading and listening to Anansi stories in Suriname. Nice to see it featured here. People wordwide could learn and have a lot of fun exploring African folklore.
This is one of the Classic Mythological figures. 😁😁😁
My indo-carribean (Guyanese) great grandmother used to say, " come, let me tell you a nancy story". Lol that's what my ears heard... now I know she was saying anansi and that it originated from West Africa. Thank you so much for sharing!
The mythology or folklore debate was really good
I am Jamaican n I grew up hearing my grandparents n parents telling us children anansi stories in the evenings on the varandeh after dinner. I myself know many anansi stories n tell my young students.
I grew up in Ghana. You just described nights with my Grandma too.
As a Ghanaian who has followed you for some years now, I'm excited to see our stories here👍✌️
Yes!
Been waiting for this, absolutely love African mythology and folklore!!
Definitely please do more of these. Really enjoyed it.
It's a good day when M&F posts a video.
I have been really interested in African folk stories and mythology Thank you for the introduction . I do hope that you continue to post videos about them .
I’m an American, but I always loved the Anansi stories. They were unlike other fairytales in that the characters had tons of personality and were pretty funny as well.
Ghana Myths here we go 🇬🇭👍🏽
Really excited to see you cover African folklore. Looking forward to hearing more!
I love hearing lesser known myths and folk lores. I know Bri'r Rabbit came from African folk lore as well as a trickster. Mami Wata is another I'd love to hear more about.
Bri'r Rabbit is African American, unless you want to count the African Diaspora
I enjoyed this video very much! Thank you!
we didn't know about these stories! thank you for sharing, can't wait to hear more
Love these Anansi stories! There's always things to learn from his adventures. I grew up on these folklores. Please do more!
Wonderful 😁 Yes please add more Anansi stories and other African stories❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
My favorite deity. He’s still honored in Akom, Carriacou’s Big Drum Dance, and Haitian Vodu, as well as other religions and traditions. Praise to him.
Great recc on The Great Courses. Listening to the whole series now.
I love ur channel & would truly enjoy u creating more videos & hearing some of the other stories of Anansi.
Love the artwork! Awesome video as usual 😊
The story of his labors in 6mins is similar to the 1 in an ep of Static Shock.
Perfect Timing, I was looking for a start on gaining more information about him.
The intro is absolutely unreal. So professional man 👌🏻
Thanks for covering this Folk lore I hope to see more.
That was incredible! I definitely want to hear more about that!!
I just recently started watching your channel and I love it. I have always been fascinated by These Mythology and Folklore Stories. They have always been important to me ever since first reading about them as a child. I enjoy your channel so thank you for these amazing tales and storied. I am learning so much and I love it.
One of my favorite gods. In fact, I'm writing my MA thesis on Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you! Another splendid presentation
Awesome, thank so much for covering Anansi! Hopefully we can get more African Gods in the future.❤️
So happy you shared this story.
I love this tipe of videos keep up the good work
I would love to hear more. This is a story, person I haven't heard about. Great video
yes, yes, you can absolutely bring us all the Anansi stories you can, African folktales in general. I really appreciate your well-read and engaging approach to sharing these tales! much love for your anthropological finesse in story telling.
Thank you so much for this video. I love the culturally specific mythological creatures, especially the African and Caribbean ones. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Excellent video... all I can add is please More Anansi stories! Thank you...see you in the next one!
I first heard about this tale in elementary school in the 90s. Loved learning about mythology from all over.
Thank you, that was really interesting!
I just love how u were able to mention the name very well as an Akan we really enjoyed this when been told as kids and even in my old age I'm still fascinated by his stories and even more excited when foreigners learn and talk about him
Much love 💕💕
First time watching your videos. Really enjoyed this story I would of never heard if not for you telling it thank you and look forward to more 🙂
Just to say
Your content is really informational and definitely interesting
💜💜
Outstanding video thanks 😎👍👍
Would love to see some creatures of the maghreb regions discussed
I loved this video and I got Wondrium and I love it.
I would love to visit Africa.
Great video
Such a great break down about the Spider God, More information about him is needed plsss
this is incredible ,thanks
Nice used to hear about this story when I was in elementary school.
Awesome!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I’ve heard many stories about this. One of my favorites